Russ Feingold tells White House to try KSM in civilian court

By GottaLaff

Earlier I posted about the change of heart, er, flip flop, by the White House over the venue for the Khalid Sheikh Mohammed trial. I also expressed my frustration, and explained why military commissions are inferior to civilian courts.

Looks like I'm not alone. Greg Sargent spoke to Russ Feingold's office and got the following statement. Feingold is the first prominent Congressional Democrat to speak out, but hopefully not the last:

“We have a great track record of successfully trying and convicting terrorists in civilian courts. The military commission system is largely untested, and these cases could easily get bogged down in years of legal challenges. The best way to bring these terrorists to justice swiftly is through our civilian courts.”

Bingo.

The bottom line, as Robert Gates has suggested, is that those arguing against civilian trials for terror suspects are, intentionally or not, actually trying to limit the tools at our disposal for fighting terrorism — for ideological reasons. That point can’t be restated enough.

Thank you Russ Feingold, and thank you Greg.